are neither good nor bad will again become men, but will be born into a strange sect and people.
The religion professed by the great mass of the Nuseiriyeh is, indeed, a mere mélange of doctrines, dogmas, and superstitions, borrowed from the various creeds which have at various times been dominant in the country ; and yet this incongruous jumble serves as a cloak for a much more interesting creed, namely, the ancient Sabsean faith.
The Nuseiriyeh conceal their religion from the outer world with the greatest care, and do not even initiate their own sons into its mysteries until they have arrived at years of discretion ; the women are never initiated at all.
In the first degree or stage of initiation, they are made acquainted with the doctrines of which I have given-a sketch; in the second they are told that by 'Ams the Christian Trinity is intended ; and in tbe last, or perfect degree, they are taught that this Trinity, the real object of their worship, is composed of Light, or the Sky, the Sun, and the Moon, the first being illimitable and infinite, tbe second proceeding from the first, and the last proceeding from the other two.
The five monads are, in this stage, absolutely declared to be identical with the five planets.
In their religious ceremonies they make use of hymns, libations of wine, and sacrifices ; to describe them in detail would be out of place in this work, I will, therefore, only mention one, which has an exceptional interest.
Amongst the ceremonies observed at their great feast is one called the " Consecration of the Fragrant Herb." The officiating priest takes his seat in the midst of the assembly, and a white cloth, containing a kind of spice called mahlab, camphor, and some sprigs of olive ' or fragrant herb, is then placed before him. Two attendants then bring in a vessel filled with wine, and the master of the house in which the ceremony takes place, after appointing a third person to minister to them, kisses their

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